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Your Tuesday news:
International Developments
❖ Rebels in Syria have captured the al-Jarrah airfield in Aleppo. The airfield is near the al-Furta dam which they captured yesterday.
❖ Rallies in Yemen marking the 2011 ouster of ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh were peaceful in Sanaa, the capital, but separatists and Islamists were engaged in clashes in Aden leading to two deaths. Separatists complain “of political and economic marginalisation”.
❖ Protestors and riot police clashed in Cairo during a rally marking Mubarak’s ouster. President Mohamed Morsi accused by secularists of “imposing a new form of authoritarianism and betraying the values of the 2011 uprising.”
❖ In his State of the Union address tonight, President Obama will announce plans to withdraw half of US troops in Afghanistan by year’s end.
❖ Continued concern by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction of the Afghan army’s using US aid funds to purchase Iranian fuel.
❖ “U.N. condemns North Korean nuclear test, promises action”.
❖ “Two Nigerian journalists have been charged [with conspiracy and inciting a disturbance] in court over the killing of nine female polio vaccinators in northern Kano state on Friday”. Huh?
International Finance
❖ Yesterday, Barclays was going to cut 2000+ jobs; today it’s 3700. They also reported pre-tax profits went from £5.9bn in 2011 to £246m in 2012.
❖ China has now overtaken the US in world trade–$3.87tn in 2012 versus the US’ $3.82tn.
Money Matters USA
❖ David Dayen: “The Government Whiffs, Again, on Mortgage Servicer Abuse”. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ensured safeguards against the fraud and abuse rampant in the foreclosure crisis,but the equally important goals of “transparency, disclosure and timeliness” remain to be addressed. Much more.
❖ A “sharp and persistent slowdown in the growth of health care costs is helping to narrow the federal deficit”. In response, the Congressional Budget Office has reduced projected Medicare and Medicaid spending by 15%, or $200bn.
❖ Full court press by “Pentagon leaders” before the Senate Armed Services Committee provided “in great detail . . . the ways that sequestration would hollow out the military and cause ‘lasting and irreversible’ damage to national security.” Republican response: cut the federal work force.
❖ Fix the Debt, propaganda group of CEOs, seeks to scare everybody about the national debt. Flip the Debt is their nemesis, showing up at Fix the Debt gatherings with effective heckling and education.
❖ MI’s AFL-CIO and the Building and Trades Council have filed suit in federal court against MI’s new “right-to-work” laws.
❖ “Medical marijuana brings in $10m for Michigan.”
Politics USA
❖ After his State of the Union address on Thursday, President Obama will be having a “Google+ Hangout”.
❖ The right-ward swing of the term ‘left-wing’: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) hopes President Obama won’t offer any “litany of left-wing proposals” in his State of the Union address.
❖ ABC News/Washington Post poll today: 52% of US adults have a “favorable opinion of Obama’s second term policies”; 55% have an “unfavorable opinion” of what the GOP’s pushing.
❖ Little boys in the schoolyard: “Boehner accuses Obama of not having ‘the guts’ to cut spending”.
❖ Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) are co-sponsoring legislation “to make sure voters do not wait in line for more than one hour to cast a ballot.”
❖ E-mails from a ‘Peter Williams’ allege Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) had “inappropriate sexual activities with young prostitutes” in the Dominican Republican and his relationship with Dr. Salomon Melgen of Miami included use of Melgen’s private jet for the trips. Now that these allegations are swirling around Menendez, ‘Peter Williams’ has gone silent.
❖ Is ex-Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) trying to get his child support obligation terminated since he’s unemployed? Update: Walsh is now threatening to sue the Chicago Sun-Times for publishing the story that he’s behind in child support payments. The Chicago Sun Times stands by its story.
❖ PA Gov. Tom Corbett (R) has succeeded in getting the lowest approval ever for job performance in his position. 26% of registered voters say he’s doing a good job. Only 41% of Republicans approved.
❖ OH Republican Gov. John Kasich intends to impose a series of new sales taxes “on everything from haircuts to cable TV to funeral services”.
Gun Corner
❖ Two Chicago males have been charged with the death of Hadiya Pendleton, the talented 15-year old who performed with a school band at the inauguration and was gunned down in a community park near her home a week later.
❖ A newspaper calling “for Wisconsin secession and a new civil war” was distributed at the NRA Wisconsin State Convention back on February 9th.
❖ For sale at some gas stations around Eaton, CO: ”Illegal Immigrant Hunting Permit” bumper stickers.
Health, Homelessness & Hunger
❖ Sister Simone Campbell says the Pope’s reprimanding those Nuns on the Bus for focusing on “social justice and not enough on stopping abortions,” etc. ”inspired [them] to work that much harder.”
❖ NC Gov Pat McCrory (R) is opposed to expanding Medicaid in his state under the Affordable Care Act.
❖ A first in the state: an elderly care facility operator in Sacramento, CA is being charged with manslaughter in the death of an elderly resident last June. Ghastly stuff.
Planet Earth News
❖ 100+ environmental groups will have a “major rally” following President Obama’s annual address to Congress on Sunday, February 17th. Here’s a list of similar rallies being held elsewhere for those who can’t get to DC.
❖ Shell Oil is reportedly shipping its Alaska offshore rigs to Asia for “upgrades and repairs” thus–wait for it–”raising doubts over Arctic drilling plans”.
❖ Let’s hear it for Homer! The Homer Village [IL] Board rejected “an agreement for treated water and sewer services for Sunrise Coal LLC’s proposed Bulldog coal mine”, surprising everyone.
❖ Not so much for Sanford, NY where the town board banned “frack” talk at meetings. They’re being sued.
❖ “Middle East river basin has lost Dead Sea-sized quantity of water . . . from Turkey . . . to Syrian, Iran and Iraq”.
Break Time
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About FDL News Desk
Italian ex-spy chief gets 10 years in CIA case:
This sounds suspiciously like the rule of law. WTF? Get with the post-9/11 program, Italy.
*heh* I’d become a Roman-Catholic if Sister Simone became Pope…! ;-)
Aloha, fatster, a whole bunch to mull over…!
I finally posted a new post…! Some Questions About Brennan…
Good evening, fatster, great summary again.
I was also going to bring up allan’s point @ 1; isn’t it delicious?
As to the possible secession of Wisconsin, as I’ve said a couple of times in FDL comments, whatever else the NRA may be it’s a meet market for people interested in a fascist takeover. And should that happen you would find that the 2nd Amendment only applies to the cadre, probably by interpreting them as the “militia” of which it speaks.
Hi Fatster and friends
“Boston’s Paulist Center Community has given its signature annual award to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), a group that represents the majority of U.S. Catholic sisters, in recognition of the social justice work of sisters across the country.
The women religious of the United States have taught us to pray, educated us on how to live and work in our ever-changing world, nursed our sick and old, cared for our abandoned, reached out to all the marginalized, and taught us how to respect the dignity of all,” said Rutkowski, according to a Facebook posting by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston.”
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/lcwr-receives-paulist-award-social-justice-work
There’s a tradition for that, you know, well in legend anyway: Pope Joan.
THnx for the link about Brennan Questions. I’ll go check it out.
And Mahala, too, CTuttle!
They’ve been busy on the CIA part of that, too. Thanks for reminding me about it, allan.
Thnx, E. F. Beall. Home-grown fascists are very scary, that’s for sure. **Shudder**
Yay! Thanks ever so much for that link, mafr. Those nuns are inspiring, filling in the huge void between the Beatitudes and current-day priorities.
And . . . Good Evening!
If these two are still in touch with their American associates.
Good morning, pups. Good news out of Italy. The Europeans (Continental) have a different system of Justice than the Anglo-saxon countries, which I think recalls the time when magistrates purchased their office (and bequeathed them to their children, on payment of a fee to the state). Sounds perfectly awful, but in fact the practice seems to have guaranteed the independence of the judiciary within its sphere of jurisdiction. In France (I don’t know about Italy but am assuming the institutions are similar) the magistracy is a profession, like pharmacy or dentistry. The prospective judge gets accepted into a school for judges, like law school but not for solicitors and barristers, and when she graduates takes a competitive examination which determines where she starts out in the hierarchy. The rest is a normal career progression. Like lawyers, judges specialize, so their are prosecuting judges (juges d’instruction) who operate like Grand Juries and DA’s, family court judges, municipal judges, etc. They have something stronger than civil service protection to support their independence from the Government.
Like every system, this one can be gamed, and we have seen how Judge Garzón in Spain was removed from office after having got too close to thr PTB, but on the whole the system works pretty well. The key thing is that judges in this kind of system form a ‘corps’ with an ‘esprit de corps’, a sense of a common ethical and professional bond that provides a certain collective responsibility for the law in the face of the PTB. Of course, judges tend to come from the upper middle class and share its prejudices, but on questions like the case in Italy, they are likely to come down on the side of legality.
Thanks a bunch for all that information about the judgeship system in Italy, Knut. Very helpful.
Thanks for the report on Sanford, NY and the lawsuit over public discussion on fracking. I’m reading Tom Wilbur’s book, Under The Surface, where he’s talking about how the leaders and farmers of that town organized to get the best deal for the leases on their mineral rights.
Tom Wilbur will be on Book Salon with us this coming Saturday.
Saturday, huh? Good to know, greenwarrior. Thnx so much.
I made a note to mention the upcoming Book Salon in Friday’s Roundup. If I forget, pls remind me (and, I’ll go stand in a corner or something). :)
Oh great! I’ll try to remind you should you forget. If you do go stand in the corner, would it be remiss for me to bring you hot cocoa and lots of good company? (We can also always spike the hot cocoa with spirits of your choice).